Tag: losing streaks

And Now They’re Fired: Alessio Sakara, George Sotiropoulos, and Rosi Sexton Removed From UFC.com Roster


(To answer the question posed by your body language, hellz yeah bro, that is some sick ink. / Photo via Getty)

BloodyElbow gives us the heads up that three notable UFC fighters have had their profiles removed from UFC.com — a sure sign that they’ve recently been released by the promotion. While it’s always sad to see people lose their jobs right before Christmas, you can’t argue that these three didn’t have it coming. So who felt the axe in the latest round of roster-cuts? Let’s begin…

Alessio Sakara: The Italian striker has been a reliable gatekeeper-presence at light-heavyweight and middleweight since his Octagon debut in 2005, earning solid wins against Elvis Sinosic, Joe Vedepo, Thales Leites, and James Irvin. But training injuries began to pile up beginning in 2009, and Sakara also missed fights due to sudden illness and the loss of his father.

In 2011, Sakara kicked off what would become a four-fight losing streak, when he dropped a decision to newcomer (and future middleweight champion) Chris Weidman, who came into the fight as a short notice injury replacement. After that, Sakara was KO’d by Brian Stann, DQ’d due to rabbit-punches in a fight against Patrick Cote, and armbarred by UFC rookie Nicholas Musoke during his most recent appearance at UFC Fight Night 30 in October. That loss dropped Sakara’s overall UFC record to 6-8 with one no-contest.

George Sotiropoulos: After entering the UFC as semi-finalist on TUF 6 in 2007, Sotiropoulos went on an absolute tear, winning seven fights in a row (which earned him a spot on the all-time leaderboard). In 2010, Sotiropoulos defeated Joe Stevenson, Kurt Pellegrino, and Joe Lauzon, making him a legitimate title contender in the lightweight division. But in a stunning reversal of fortune, Sotriopoulos would never win another fight in the UFC.


(To answer the question posed by your body language, hellz yeah bro, that is some sick ink. / Photo via Getty)

BloodyElbow gives us the heads up that three notable UFC fighters have had their profiles removed from UFC.com — a sure sign that they’ve recently been released by the promotion. While it’s always sad to see people lose their jobs right before Christmas, you can’t argue that these three didn’t have it coming. So who felt the axe in the latest round of roster-cuts? Let’s begin…

Alessio Sakara: The Italian striker has been a reliable gatekeeper-presence at light-heavyweight and middleweight since his Octagon debut in 2005, earning solid wins against Elvis Sinosic, Joe Vedepo, Thales Leites, and James Irvin. But training injuries began to pile up beginning in 2009, and Sakara also missed fights due to sudden illness and the loss of his father.

In 2011, Sakara kicked off what would become a four-fight losing streak, when he dropped a decision to newcomer (and future middleweight champion) Chris Weidman, who came into the fight as a short notice injury replacement. After that, Sakara was KO’d by Brian Stann, DQ’d due to rabbit-punches in a fight against Patrick Cote, and armbarred by UFC rookie Nicholas Musoke during his most recent appearance at UFC Fight Night 30 in October. That loss dropped Sakara’s overall UFC record to 6-8 with one no-contest.

George Sotiropoulos: After entering the UFC as semi-finalist on TUF 6 in 2007, Sotiropoulos went on an absolute tear, winning seven fights in a row (which earned him a spot on the all-time leaderboard). In 2010, Sotiropoulos defeated Joe Stevenson, Kurt Pellegrino, and Joe Lauzon, making him a legitimate title contender in the lightweight division. But in a stunning reversal of fortune, Sotriopoulos would never win another fight in the UFC.

First, G-Sots was bombed out by Dennis Siver, losing a unanimous decision after being repeatedly unable to take Siver to the mat. Then, Sotiropoulos was on the wrong end of brutal knockouts by Rafael dos Anjos and Ross Pearson, his rival coach on TUF: Smashes. (There was even a rumor that George was KO’d during the filming of that show.) Luckily, Sotiropoulos remained conscious during his most recent appearance at UFC 167 in October, but he still lost a decision to KJ Noons, sealing his fate with the promotion.

Rosi Sexton: The British WMMA veteran came into the UFC with a solid 13-2 record — her only losses coming against Gina Carano and Zoila Frausto Gurgel — but she failed to make an impact in the bantamweight division, losing consecutive decisions to Alexis Davis and Jessica Andrade this year; in case you missed it, Sexton’s loss to Andrade was a thoroughly lopsided beat-down. Luckily, Sexton still has her osteopathy practice and doctorate in theoretical computer science to fall back on, which begs the question: What the hell was Rosi Sexton doing fighting other women in cages in the first place? Don’t people only compete in MMA as a last resort? Sexton plans to get surgery to repair two prolapsed discs in her neck, and is not sure if she’ll ever fight again.

And Now He’s Fired (Yet Again): John Alessio


(Alessio prays for forgiveness (and another shot) after coming up short in a snoozer against Shane Roller at UFC 148.) 

We don’t mean to disrespect a grizzled veteran of the sport like John Alessio, but simply put, if you are shocked to learn that “The Natural” was released from the UFC following an 0-2 stint in the octagon, you are either John Alessio or Lloyd Christmas. Having compiled an 0-5 lifetime record in the promotion, Alessio not only received one of the most undeserved title shots of all time under the Zuffa banner, but will live in CagePotato infamy for his placement amongst the “50 Worst Fighters in UFC History” and “The Ten Most Ironic Nicknames in MMA”. While he might be upset to learn of his placement on one of those lists, the other was more or less just a means of wasting time on our part.

Based purely on comparative success in other promotions, Alessio was/is basically the Canadian version of Jorge Santiago — a man capable of crushing 95% of the fighters he faces outside of the promotion, but one who simply couldn’t put it together under the bright lights — scoring impressive wins over fellow UFC veterans Chris Clements, War Machine, and Sean Pierson among others. Of his five losses, four came by way of unanimous decision, against superior strikers (Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez), superior grapplers (Mark Bocek, Shane Roller) and superior superiors (Pat Militech). In an interview with MMAJunkie, Alessio discussed how his most recent loss to Roller was the hardest to swallow:

 I’m super upset. I worked so long and so hard to get back, and the UFC always puts all this pressure on you about being exciting, so I tried to change my style up to be crowd-pleasing. But then I get an opponent in my last fight, where he just chose to hold me down to win the fight, and it’s just depressing that that gets rewarded when all they talk about is exciting fights.

I really thought that I’d be spending more than a couple of months of 2012 in the UFC. I thought I’d get one more shot. I don’t know where I should go or what my options are.

Though we are sure that Alessio will find success wherever he lands, his hope of getting a win in the UFC before he retires is a long shot at best at this point in his career. The 33 year-old Xtreme Couture products record currently stands at 34-16.

A tribute to Alessio’s finest UFC moments is after the jump. 


(Alessio prays for forgiveness (and another shot) after coming up short in a snoozer against Shane Roller at UFC 148.) 

We don’t mean to disrespect a grizzled veteran of the sport like John Alessio, but simply put, if you are shocked to learn that “The Natural” was released from the UFC following an 0-2 stint in the octagon, you are either John Alessio or Lloyd Christmas. Having compiled an 0-5 lifetime record in the promotion, Alessio not only received one of the most undeserved title shots of all time under the Zuffa banner, but will live in CagePotato infamy for his placement amongst the “50 Worst Fighters in UFC History” and “The Ten Most Ironic Nicknames in MMA”. While he might be upset to learn of his placement on one of those lists, the other was more or less just a means of wasting time on our part.

Based purely on comparative success in other promotions, Alessio was/is basically the Canadian version of Jorge Santiago — a man capable of crushing 95% of the fighters he faces outside of the promotion, but one who simply couldn’t put it together under the bright lights — scoring impressive wins over fellow UFC veterans Chris Clements, War Machine, and Sean Pierson among others. Of his five losses, four came by way of unanimous decision, against superior strikers (Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez), superior grapplers (Mark Bocek, Shane Roller) and superior superiors (Pat Militech). In an interview with MMAJunkie, Alessio discussed how his most recent loss to Roller was the hardest to swallow:

 I’m super upset. I worked so long and so hard to get back, and the UFC always puts all this pressure on you about being exciting, so I tried to change my style up to be crowd-pleasing. But then I get an opponent in my last fight, where he just chose to hold me down to win the fight, and it’s just depressing that that gets rewarded when all they talk about is exciting fights.

I really thought that I’d be spending more than a couple of months of 2012 in the UFC. I thought I’d get one more shot. I don’t know where I should go or what my options are.

Though we are sure that Alessio will find success wherever he lands, his hope of getting a win in the UFC before he retires is a long shot at best at this point in his career. The 33 year-old Xtreme Couture products record currently stands at 34-16.

We’ve whipped up a tribute to Alessio’s finest UFC moments and placed them below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

–J. Jones

Despite Four-Fight Losing Streak, Yoshihiro Akiyama to Return Against Thiago Alves at UFC 149


(Sure, he may look strange to us, but that sort of thing is totally normal where he’s from.)

Somebody up there must like Yoshihiro Akiyama. Though the master judoka/crooner has been defeated in his last four outings — most recently dropping a decision to Jake Shields at UFC 144 — he’ll be getting another chance against Thiago Alves at UFC 149 (July 21st, Calgary). Bizarrely, UFC.com describes the welterweight bout as “a matchup between ground specialists who love to stand and trade.” That’s certainly an apt description of Sexyama, but Alves is more of “a standup specialist who should really stop diving into guillotine chokes.”

Alves’s loss to Martin Kampmann last month dropped his record over the last three years to a disappointing 2-4, with his only wins coming against Papy Abedi and John Howard, so he needs this win almost as much as his opponent does. If Akiyama loses, he’ll become just the second fighter in UFC history (after Steve Cantwell) to suffer five consecutive losses within the promotion. Anybody think he has a chance of breaking his streak?

Check out the current lineup of UFC 149 after the jump…


(Sure, he may look strange to us, but that sort of thing is totally normal where he’s from.)

Somebody up there must like Yoshihiro Akiyama. Though the master judoka/crooner has been defeated in his last four outings — most recently dropping a decision to Jake Shields at UFC 144 — he’ll be getting another chance against Thiago Alves at UFC 149 (July 21st, Calgary). Bizarrely, UFC.com describes the welterweight bout as “a matchup between ground specialists who love to stand and trade.” That’s certainly an apt description of Sexyama, but Alves is more of “a standup specialist who should really stop diving into guillotine chokes.”

Alves’s loss to Martin Kampmann last month dropped his record over the last three years to a disappointing 2-4, with his only wins coming against Papy Abedi and John Howard, so he needs this win almost as much as his opponent does. If Akiyama loses, he’ll become just the second fighter in UFC history (after Steve Cantwell) to suffer five consecutive losses within the promotion. Anybody think he has a chance of breaking his streak?

Check out the current lineup of UFC 149 after the jump…

Jose Aldo vs. TBA (for featherweight title)
Thiago Alves vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama (WW)
George Roop vs. Antonio Carvalho (FW)
Nick Ring vs. Court McGee (MW)
Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon (BW)
Mitch Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen (LW)